Tag: communications

That’s daytime Sunday in the Americas, and the morning of Monday Jan 14 in Asia/Australia/NZ – see the link for some local times.

Appropedia’s monthly online meetups continue this year. They’re a chance to work together to make fantastic resources for a sustainable and poverty-free society. We’ll work on these resources together, and by making grand plans together.

This next one will be very low key as we’re coming out of the holiday period (summer holidays for some of us – we’re a global community). But the chat will be on as always, it being the second Sunday of the month. So pop in, ask questions and lend a hand.

I want to use the time to troubleshoot the wastewater articles, dream about the year ahead, and (as always) connect with people from the Appropedia community. Perhaps those things interest you, or perhaps you want to work on something different, like an article on a medical device for isolated communities, or organizing a guerrilla marketing campaign. Either way, we’d love to have your company. (We’ll also do something bigger for February, so check back in early Feb for details.)

We’re meeting on IRC. Details for joining the chat can be found on the Appropedia Jam page.

It’s Appropedia’s monthly chat time, 2nd Sunday of the month (or the Monday morning if you’re in Asia/Australasia). It’s an open discussion this month, so bring your questions about Appropedia, or your grand plan, or just come and find out how we’re making a difference.

It’s at 10pm GMT – some local times:

In the USA: 3pm PDT & 6pm EDT

London: 11pm

Eastern Australia (Melb/Syd etc): 8am Monday 10th

NZ: 10am Monday 10th

Easiest way to join the chat – just go here and enter a username. (Ignore the “Auth to services” box unless you have a Freenode account): http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=Appropedia It’s an old-fashioned chat, a simple page in your browser with a box at the bottom for typing into.

One. I’m in Melbourne on a train to the city as I type this, chatting with Paul (more about Paul another time) who I’ve never met, and who is 14,000 km away in Costa Rica. We’re discussing Appropedia.

Two. The Appropedia Foundation was founded in 2007 – and none of the 3 founding directors had ever met in person at that stage. I’m not recommending starting a legal entity with people you haven’t met face-to-face, but it’s worked well for us.

Three. One of the admins and significant contributors to Appropedia is truly hardcore in taking action on climate – he refuses to fly to climate conferences. He commutes by foot and bike, and points out that the “100 mile lifestyle” is far more important for the environment than the “100 mile diet”. Yet he works with a global community without flying, without even leaving town.

How awesome is modern technology?

What other amazing things could we do with technology if we decided they were important? Say, if we decided to divert a trillion dollars in fossil fuel subsidies to low carbon energy research and implementation? Because we’re currently using other kinds of technology to cause a drastic increase in greenhouse gases. But I digress.

One. I’m in Melbourne on a train to the city as I type this, chatting with Paul (more about Paul another time) who I’ve never met, and who is 14,000 km away in Costa Rica. We’re discussing Appropedia.

Two. The Appropedia Foundation was founded in 2007 – and none of the 3 founding directors had ever met in person at that stage. I’m not recommending starting a legal entity with people you haven’t met face-to-face, but it’s worked well for us.

Three. One of the admins and significant contributors to Appropedia is truly hardcore in taking action on climate – he refuses to fly to climate conferences. He commutes by foot and bike, and points out that the “100 mile lifestyle” is far more important for the environment than the “100 mile diet”. Yet he works with a global community without flying, without even leaving town.

How awesome is modern technology?

What other amazing things could we do with technology if we decided they were important? Say, if we decided to divert a trillion dollars in fossil fuel subsidies to low carbon energy research and implementation? Because we’re currently using other kinds of technology to cause a drastic increase in greenhouse gases. But I digress.

To chat with the Appropedia community, find us in the #appropedia channel on Freenode, where we talk about exactly how we’ll be ramping up Appropedia this year, how this will change the world… and perhaps some lighter topics as well.

That’s an IRC channel – Internet Relay Chat, which is very flexible way to chat.

In future we’ll be announcing meetings and Appropedia jams at set times, but for now, come and say hi, and if someone’s around, they’ll say hi back – then ask your questions and make suggestions. I’m in the channel most of the time that my computer’s on, so there’s a good chance you’ll find me.

There are a few ways to join the channel:

Via the web. This is easiest (but not suitable for older computers or older browsers). Go to Freenode Web Chat, pick a username and connect.

Chatzilla extension for Firefox (and other Mozilla browsers). Some suggestions for setup options here. With Chatzilla installed, this link will take you to the channel: #appropedia

A chat client that supports IRC, e.g. Pidgin. (I find Pidgin less easy and less sophisticated than Chatzilla, for the new user.)

And aside from the discussion channel, we also have a specialist channel:

Recent changes channel

Appropedia’s continued survival depends on the Recent Changes Patrol – rolling back spam and other junk as quickly as it is put up, and helping other editors. You can be part of the patrol by joining the #appropedia-rc channel and getting a live – this allows you to see what edits are being made to Appropedia, with a link to the “diff” for the changes. Thanks to Danny B. from Prague, a hardworking member of the Wikimedia community, who set this up for us.

So, drop in and say hello. And be patient if no one’s around to reply… there are a few of us using the channel so far, and it’s increasing, but you might have to try at different times. (As for me, I’m on AEST, the eastern Australian timezone, so if you’re in the US, I’m likely to be asleep during your business hours!)

Wherever you are in the world: if you’re studying Communications, or wanting to break into the field, and you’re passionate about solutions for positive change in the world, then this could be the opportunity for you. Appropedia is looking for interns – one to start in October, another to start in the New Year – to help us communicate and engage with people who might be interested in this project, as well as communicate with and strengthen our existing community.

The work will involve a mixture of interviewing, contacting and/or helping to write publicity materials. You can work part-time, and you’ll have a lot of flexibility in how you work, but you’ll have guidance always available.

There is a lot of potential to learn and to make a difference. I sometimes say, only half-jokingly, that Appropedia was built by engineers and scientists, so we’re much better at doing stuff than at talking about what we do. But we’ve talked, and got better at it, and become active in social media, as we’ve taken our message out there. We’re happy to share with you what we’ve learned, but we’re also happy to learn from you and with you.

You’ll need to take initiative, experiment and report on what’s working and what isn’t. We have a high respect for failure with enthusiasm, which is often the basis for future success, and even more often the basis for very valuable learning.

This is a virtual internship – you’ll be working with people who might be on the other side of the world, but with email, chat and VOIP, that’s not such a challenge these days. You can work from anywhere in the world with internet access. That requires you to manage your time, organize yourself and get things done – an online internship isn’t for everyone.

If you have any questions or want to apply, please get in touch – email me on chriswaterguyappropediaorg, or leave a comment below, or on my Appropedia talk page. For up-to-date info on these internships, see: For more on all Appropedia’s internship opportunities, see: